Over the years, the marketing of certain financial services, and, in general, in the marketing of other goods and services, has been hindered increasingly by such problems as high administrative costs, long delays in creating and implementing services, and complex methods that confound and confuse those at retail sales locations as well as their customers. These problems have been especially prevalent in the financial services industry.
The traditional approach to marketing financial service products has been to offer such services at retail sales locations by employees of the retail businesses acting as agents for the financial services companies. One of the consequences of this traditional approach is that each retail sales business must have the necessary means for calculating or computing and quoting rather complicated matters, such as payments and premiums, and to be responsible for maintaining computer hardware and software systems independently of and in addition to those at the financial service companies. All too frequently these requirements result in contracts which must be amended, endorsed, or worse, completely rejected.
Another consequence of this traditional approach is that in acting as agents of the financial services companies, the employees of the retail sales businesses are usually required to be licensed in their state to do so. High turnover rate of these employees can pose serious problems. Further, there are considerable costs for the retail sales businesses in maintaining separately these in-house systems, and for replacing them to keep pace with changing products and regulations.
An ideal system would utilize central and remote locations working together to overcome such problems. Such systems have been tried, but they have not been totally satisfactory. One of the first to use central and remote facilities was Lockwood in U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,359. By Lockwood each remote terminal was programmed to elicit information in a predetermined sequence from a customer, and to transmit that information to a central processing center. This was done in a fashion similar to a programmed course. Lockwood obtained the required information by means of simulated interviews with a fictitious agent created by audio-visual devices. The information obtained was merely input for use in Lockwood's program, and the customer had no latitude. Using that approach a customer was asked pertinent questions in order to learn the type of insurance desired and other information necessary to process a quotation.
At a central terminal the information was processed and the results were transmitted back to the remote terminal. The customer was then given an opportunity to select a policy or take it home for study. These were his only options. In Lockwood the customer terminal was there for the purpose of satisfying the central processing center, and not for assisting the customer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,571 D'Agostino referred to Lockwood, and rejected the Lockwood method because the customer had no say, pointing out that Lockwood's remote computers greatly reduced labor costs, but the reduction of such costs was at the expense of completely removing the human interface. To overcome this problem D'Agostino provided a computerized system which included a personal representative, or financial assistant, at a central terminal. Each customer terminal stored all financial information, and a display was provided at each of those terminals so that the central representative could display selected information. Thus, a central terminal was linked to a customer terminal, but the display, and all of the information at the customer terminal, were controlled at the central terminal. The output was controlled by a representative at the central terminal in response to one-on-one conversations between the customer and the representative. The customer had no computer, and D'Agostino did not want him to. The customer was to converse and not use a terminal. Neither Lockwood nor D'Agostino, then, completely solved the problem existing between remote and central facilities.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,940 Dworkin also dealt with a facility having a remote and central facility, providing a remote system for locating the best available prices for products or services. For the remote facility Dworkin used a series of screens, tests and templates designed to elicit the desires of a customer. The customer selected options in multiple choice fashion or filled in blanks in templates. When the series was completed the customer's desires relative to goods, their sources and prices, was to have been obtained for use at the central facility. The resulting information desired by the customer was then transmitted back to the customer after being processed.
Another remote transaction system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,636 to Walker, provided a transaction booth located remotely from an operations center. It was used for facilitating such transactions as renting automobiles. The booth and center were connected by audio and video equipment used for transmitting audio and video signals from the customer in the booth to the agent at the operations center in order to negotiate a transaction. The customer in this instance knew what he wanted. He was not shopping, but merely seeking to effect a predetermined transaction.
A review of this prior art shows that all of these systems fall short because none take all types of customer personalities into consideration. In the course of several years of teaching computer classes I developed a theory regarding human interaction with computers which was partially the basis for the system provided herein. From my observations of students I found that there were three classifications of human attitudes toward the use of computers. The first group preferred to be left alone when using computers and wanted to work things out on their own. This group tended to be very independent and to them the unrequested assistance of a representative was an intrusion. This independent group needed an input device operating in a self-service mode.
A second group wanted to be told what they needed to do, and thereafter would help themselves. This dependent group needed the assistance of a live attendant in conjunction with an input device. Such customers, thereafter, would help themselves.
A third group of students wanted to be shown what to do every step of the way. This group wanted to be allowed to sit back and passively watch whatever was being presented. This passive group required a live attendant who could take control of the system.
It is to be appreciated that none of the references discussed hereinbefore satisfy all types of customers. The invention herein takes all three types of customers, the passive, the dependent, and the independent customers into consideration, and provides a system that any of the three can use. This is not true of the prior art, even when combined. Consequently, a need still exists for new and improved systems utilizing central and remote facilities. The need is for a system which provides the customers with more latitude and fewer limitations in shopping for goods and services, or for engaging in business transactions. Such a system and means are provided herein.